Angkor Thom, Cambodia

Posted on June 3, 2014

Cambodia. I thought I could only picture these images in my dreams (or in google), but here I am making a blog post about my first trip to Cambodia. To be honest, I’m not really good at making itineraries or searching for the best places to go and stay in another country, that’s why I’m so happy I found Prime App. Prime App is an educational and internship travel agency. They’ve partnered with over 50+ schools all around the world to help you and so it can be easier for you to reach your goals in studying abroad. I’ll tell you more about it next time, but for now- let’s focus on my Cambodia trip. Thank you again Prime App for arranging this trip.

First day tour destination: Angkor Thom (which means Great City). Unlike Angkor Wat, which is one huge temple, Angkor Thom has a lot of smaller temples inside like Bayon Temple, Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, Te Keon, Ta Phrom and more. I wasn’t able to go to all the temples because of the scorching sun, but I hope you’ll still like my journey. This is the when you enter Bayon Temple. The faces on the right are demons while the faces on the left are gods. The tour guide said that in the 12th century, people believed that they come together so that the gate will be opened.

Bayon Temple. It’s one of the famous temples in Angkor in Cambodia. It was built in the later 12th or early 13th century as the official state temple of the King Jayavarman VII. It’s at the centre of Angkor Thom. People know it because of it’s distinctive stone faces on all sides of the temple.

Each and every corner inside Bayon Temple is just so beautiful. The structures and carvings are incredible.

What do you think of the smiling stone faces? It’s amazing how they built these temples in the olden days.

Every area is picture perfect and Instagram-worthy. I had to hold myself back from bombarding you guys with a lot of photos!

After Bayon Temple, we spotted these two relaxed men on their tuk tuk while walking to our next destination. These are like their tricycles in Cambodia.

Baphuon Temple. It’s located northwest of Bayon.

Terrace of the Elephants. The terrace was used by Angkor’s King as a platform where he can view his returning army. Our tour guide also said that these are the areas where the elephants would drop the people off.

He also mentioned that in the 12th and 13th century, people who committed crimes are to be kept inside these chambers.

In between temples, there are locals who sell souvenirs like paintings, books, figurines, etc.

So I still managed to pose like this after 3 hours of walking under the sun. I know I look all relaxed, but believe me, I was so tired and sweaty all the time.

Here is it! Ta Prohm temple- the famous temple where the movie Tomb Raider was shot. I felt like I was Lara Croft for a second lol.

It’s a beautiful mess inside. Look at the giant trees on top of the temple. How can that even happen!

These are spung trees and the trees are soft inside that’s why it was able to grow around the walls. Isn’t it amazing?

The trees behind me are actually two trees that are intertwined. It’s a mystery even to the locals how this happened.

Don’t be deceived by this picture, this tree is humongous!!!!

This is an example of a giant tree I’m telling you about. I’ve never seen anything like this before!

There are so many beautiful temples in Cambodia and these pictures don’t give it justice. This was only half of my day in Angkor Thom and I still have so much to share with you guys. This country is so rich in culture and history. Watch out for my upcoming posts! Will be bombarding you with magnificent photos. BMS.